Method for measuring distance



Nov. 20,1928. 1,692,119 7 H. c. HAYES METHOD FOR' MEASURING DI STANCE Original Filed Jan. 31. i922 g .s s 2 FIG. 5

HARVEY QHAYES.

mated Nov. 20,1928. v. v I 1,692,119 UNITED A ES;- T NT;

HARVEY c. HAYES, or wssnnm'ron, n s'rnicror-connnnm a mnrnoia For. niansuitiive ni'smnca.

Original application'nled January 3'1, 1922, Serial No. 533,092. Divided and-thia a mmmm med August 12,1924: Serial'No. 781,578.} a

This is a. divisional application filed incon sea bottom, are efficient reflectors of subma-, nection with my co-pending application, Se- -r-in'e sounds. Alsofbecauseofthelow viscosity, rial No. 533,092, filed January 31, 1922.- homogeneity, .and frelatively slow movement My invention relates generally to a method ofsea water, ittr'an'smits sounds to great 7 of and apparatus for measuring distance, and distances and with but slight bending or 'w more particularly to determining distance by change of direction; j measuring the time of sound traversebetween. --My method of; sound ranging might be" two points. widely used as an aid-and safeguard to navi-- An object of my invention is to determine gation by enabling the navigator to take with a high degree of accuracy'the time of .soundingsaswell' astodetermine the dis: 65 sound traverse between a sound source and 'tance of hisivessel' from rocks, ledges, precipj a sound receiver. itous coasts, and icebergs. This" is possible Another object is to provide a device that, because of the-simplicity with which-the deis sim 1e and reliable in operation, cheap to vice may-"be operated'on ship board by the I v manu acture, and having a marked degree'of ships personnel. 7o. efiiciency. a It has been found that if arrangements are With these and other objects in view the inmade so that of two" sounds one stimulates vention consists in the construction, com'binaone .ear and the other stimulates the other tion, and arrangement of arts so as to utilize car then the simultaneity'. of the two can certain characteristics 0 sound as will'be be judged to within from 1/200thto 1/1000th 75 I hereinafter described. I of a secondifftwo sounds are unlike--the Reference is to be had to the accompanying accuracy of judgment depending upon the drawings forming part of this specification in character and sharpness ofthe' two sounds,

which like reference characters indicate corbut dependingrelati'vely little on the observ-' responding parts throughout the several ,er. If the two sounds are alike, as are sound 80 views, and in which and its echo, then the simultaneity can be Figure 1 is a sectional view of my device judged to within '1/100,000th of a second. t Figure 2 is a top view partially broken; This phenomenon is due'ito the operation of awa J the binaural sensei' i 80 Figure 3 is an end view partially broken j Referring more particularly to Figure 1 of 86' away 1 the drawings, 5 represents "a' motor adjust- Figure 4 is a erspective view of the'time able to give and hold a) desired speed,- which regulating cylin er usedtherein, and f drives a ear" 6 mountedon a shaft 7;. The

Figure 5 is a simple diagram of the electridrive mec aiiisinbetween' the mcmr'and gear cal circuits and elements. I is not shown, as it may be of any (3OI1VeI1t10H-' an The velocity with which sound-travels in a1 or desired construction and arrangement. any homogeneous,-ponderable medium is def- Ball-bearings 9, arranged on the upper side ini'te and determinable and, as a result, the of apedestal 8 inwhich the shaft 7 ls'mount- Q distance between a sound. source and" a.rece1ved, support the gear 6.- To the free end of the i g Station n a k wn medium can be do: shaft 1 fixedly secure, by any desired means, a

- termined by measuring the time required for disk 10, and housings 11 and 12 interposed.- a sound signal to travel between the two between thegear and disk additionally sup points. 4 port the latter. a

My method of sound rang ng 1S especmlly A frame 13 has a bar 14, a portion of'whos'e applicable to the determmation of the dis: .uppersurface is cut away, as at 15, to provide foo tance from a sound source to a reflectmg or. stop 1 6 and 17 at either end, secured between" echo producing surface, as by employing 'its uprights as at 18 and 19. Between the the cc 0, the source and the receiver canbe st Islidably mount a carriage 20 having located at the same station and the measure U h d b r 21 i t 11 f ed 5o ment of the time int thus m p ed n .v thereon, the cross bar of which is provided error reduced, as the time interval to be measwith amok '22 One of th nd b f thi urediis doubled- U-shaped member has secured thereto a point- It has been found that most submarine surer 23-.which is movable along a scale g4 secur faces, such as are furnished by rocks, ledges" ed, to the cross bar 25 of the frame 1 Stopprecipitous coasts, icebergs and all kinds 0- ping-blocks 26 securedswithm the carriage r19 are adapted to engage with the stops 16 and 17 to limit the movement thereof. A cylinder 27 -rotatably surrounds the carriage 20 and is supported therefrom by-ball-bearings 28 mounted in bearings 29 carried b both the cylinder and carriage. One end the cylinder is enlarged and has a ring 30, preferably of fibre, fitted in a groove 31 and engaging with the disk whereby motion is imparted to the cylinder. Extending longitudinally of the cylinder there is a triangular-shaped recess 32, having its larger end the more remote from the enlarged cylinder head.

To vary the speed of the cylinder by moving it radially inward or outward along the disk I use a pinion gear 33 meshing with the rack 22, the gear being operable through a thumb knob 34.

The mechanism operating an oscillatory circuit, illustrated in Fig. 5, connected to the binding posts 35 and 38, consists of a breaker arm 36, rider wheel 37, stationary arm 39,

- and contact 40. The arm 36 is electrically connected with the binding post 38 and is resiliently connected to an insulating block 41 by a screw 42 or other suitable means, while the arm 39 is electricall connected with the binding post 35 throu the stud 43 which passes through a suite le insulated housing 44 mounted within the cross bar 25. The contacts are normally held open by the rider wheel, but are closed for an instant during each revolution of the cylinder when the wheel dro s into the recess. It will thus be observed t at the oscillatory circuit is closed for aninstant every time the cylinder revolves, and since the speed of the cylinder can be varied uniformly the interval between the signals can be given any value between infinity and a certain minimum, but as the larger end of the recess is towards the center of the disk, where rapid movement is imparted to the cylinder, the length of the signal remains approximately constant. A signal having a regulable period of constant duration, wholly independent of changes in signal periodicit is highly advantageous in permitting an a solute coincidence in point of time, between echo and primary impulses when the latter are combined in a common receptive means, such as I have disclosed. It is apparent, that the triangular recess, constitutes a simple expedient for limiting the length of signal to a definite time duration when cylinder 27, in being adjusted for echosignal coincidence, has been moved toward the center of dislnlO, its angular velocity being decreased, which, in the absence of a reoess having tapered width, would cause contacts 39 and 40 to remain closed for an 1ndefinitely long period.

Fig. 5 shows one arrangement of the oscillating circuit and the receiver. A source of alternating current 45, having preferably a frequency to give a musical note, supplies a winding on the core 48 which is permanently magnetized by a source of direct current 47. The field set up acts on the diaphra 49 in, contact with water, as for instance eing set in the skin 50 of a ship, causing it to vibrate- The local signal is brought to one ear piece of a two telephone head set by an inductive connection between a receiver circuit and the oscillatory circuit, operated by the contact 40. The other receiver is actuated by the echo of the signal received on asubmarine sound receiver. The listener now adjusts the carriage 20 and cylinder 27 along the disk 10 by the thumb knob 34 until thesignal and echo arrive at the two ears simultaneous- 1y; that is, the echo of a signal already made arrives at the same time as the next succeeding signal; or it would be possible to have the echo arrive at the same time as'the second or third succeedin signal in which case the time of travel of t e soundwould be two or three times that of one revolution of the cylinder. The time, interval or period, if the scale is calibrated in such unit, may be read ofl? directly by means of the pointer 23 which moves over the scale 24, or the scale may be calibrated directly in fathoms, yards, or any other desired unit.

ile the foregoing descri tion takes care of sound ranging where anec o from the sig nals can be ad, the apparatus can be made suitable for observations where no echo is available. For instance, in Fig. 5 the line connecting the microphone 55 with the ear piece 52 may be a long time connecting two widel separated points, the distance between whic is known, thus giving a means for measuring velocity. Since the velocity of the electrical effects in the circuit will be extremely high, the time of return of the signal from the distant microphone to the ear piece will be negligible for all practical purposes. Or the two stations could be connected by radio means to transfer the generated signals to the receiving point or the received signal to the generatin Eoint,

While ave described my invention as a means for determining distance, it may be equally well used for obtainnig other ata, such as determining velocity of sound, if the range is known.

It will be understood that the above descri tion and accompanying drawings compre end onl the general and preferred embodiment o my invention and that various minor changes in details of construction, proportion, andarrangement .of parte'may be made within the scopeof the ap nded claims and without sacrificing any of t e advantages of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is: v

1. The method of taking soundings which consists of imparting asuccession of sound signals to the waterto produceechoesfromthe sea bottom, directly activating one receiverat an instant simultaneous in time with the transmitted signalgactivating a second receiver with the echoes of said signals, and adjusting the periodicity of'said succession of signals while maintaining the duration of signal at constant length, to value such that the two receivers are activated simultaneously.

2. The method of sound ranging which consists of im-partinga succession ofisound signals to a homogeneous medium .to produce echoes from an olaject the range of which is being measured, irectly activating one receiver at an instant simultaneous in time with the transmitted signal activating a' second receiver with the echoes of said signals, and adjusting the periodicity of said succession of signals while maintaining the durationof signal at constant length, until both receivers are activated simultaneously, the periodicity of the signals constituting an indicium of the distance desired. 7 a

3. The method of determining the time measure of sound propagation over distances which consists of generating a succession of sound signals, activating one receiver with said signals at the same instant they occur, recelvlng said slgnals after propagation and return over distance to be measured, activating a second receiver with the signals at the same instant they are received, and adjusting the periodicity of said succession of signals while maintaining the duration of signal at constant length, until both receivers are activated simultaneously the adjusted periodicity constituting the time of travel of the propagated sound to the objectiveand return over the path of the distance to be measured.

' HARVEY C. HAYES. 

